Greenburgh regulating massage parlors - The Journal News | LoHud.com

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Legislation aims to prevent prostitution, other illegal activities

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Greenburgh officials have gotten complaints that some of the spas appear to be fronts for prostitution and create neighborhood problems.(Photo: file photo/The Journal News)Buy Photo


GREENBURGH - They're advertised as "spas," offering adult entertainment and massages by scantily clad women described suggestively as "beautiful" and "exotic."

Too often, residents, police and officials say, these type of massage parlors that seem to spring up and close down at the drop of a hat along Central Avenue employ unlicensed "massage therapists," who are involved in prostitution and other illegal activities.

And while police crackdowns have resulted in a number of arrests in recent years, a new Greenburgh law announced this week aims to permanently prevent parlors from providing anything more than a state-licensed massage.

The legislation "will give police the tools they need to close permanently all 'adult' massage businesses," said Edgemont Community Council President Bob Bernstein, a lawyer, who suggested the law last year. He worked with Town Board members Francis Sheehan, Kevin Morgan and Ken Jones to refine his draft and work out the details.

The law, unanimously approved, requires all massage businesses to apply to the town for a license, which gives police a chance to check whether the owner hires state-licensed massage therapists. Once licensed by the town, owners will have to obtain a special permit to comply with the zoning code. Police will be able to obtain a court order to shut down any business without the license; massage businesses have four months to comply with the new law.

Pat Collins, president of the American Massage Therapy Association's New York chapter, said the law "unfairly targets, and discriminates against licensed massage therapists."

"They are associating us with prostitution, and that does not make us happy," Collins said.

Collins said state-licensed massage therapists are considered health care workers and already undergo rigorous education, exam and licensing requirements. She said Greenburgh's law adds an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy and requires law-abiding therapists to pay a local licensing fee in addition to the fees they already pay the state.

"It's a felony to provide a massage without a state license," Collins said. "All they need to do it enforce the state laws that are already on the books."

Under state Education Law, licensed massage therapists must be at least 18, "of good moral character," meet education and examination requirements and complete a CPR course before obtaining a license.

Bernstein said Greenburgh's law protects licensed massage therapists.

"It eliminates unlicensed massage businesses," he said. "This law should be a model for municipalities throughout the region because of the proliferation of questionable massage parlors in suburban strip malls."

Dealing with questionable massage parlors is something Greenburgh and other lower Hudson Valley municipalities have contended with for some time. Clarkstown, in Rockland County, passed a law in 1996 after law enforcement officials expressed concern that police raids penalized the women working at the businesses and not the owners and landlords.

Greenburgh began taking a closer look at massage parlor regulation because while police made arrests during raids and undercover operations, few owners or landlords were charged and few arrests for prostitution were made because of the difficulty of proving such cases in court.

Those charged with the felony for not having the state massage therapist license typically plead guilty to a lesser charge and are quickly back at work. The new law, officials said, will allow police to shut the business down permanently.

The fee for a town license is $100; officials are considering setting a lower fee for the special permit — currently $2,500 — "so as not to unduly burden the town's massage businesses and make sure they comply," said Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner.

The law enables the town to "address an important quality of life concern that many residents have highlighted in the past — the need to close down prostitution establishments on Central Avenue," Feiner said.

Twitter: @RichLiebson

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